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December, 2016

More than 300 of Scotland’s future leaders gathered at the Strathclyde Technology and Innovation Centre for Leading for the Future, the 2050 Climate Group’s second Youth Climate Summit on November 26th, 2016.

This event brought together young people from across Scotland to learn about how they can design the future that they want.

The lineup included MSP Paul Wheelhouse, Minister for Business, Innovation and Energy, Rob Callendar, an actor most well-known for his recent role as Clarenzo in Game of Thrones, and a number of young people sharing their inspirational stories about how they are already leading the low carbon transition.

This event flipped the “climate conference” concept on its head, and instead of focusing on climate change, it focussed on the future of Scotland and how the future of various sectors and regions across Scotland will be affected by climate change, by asking to industry leaders questions like: How do we lead for the future? How can technological innovation support a low carbon transition? How to implement climate action in business, politics and finance? What new challenges will climate change bring to our health and wellbeing? How can the arts create a step change towards a low carbon Scotland?

Mr. Wheelhouse said about the event: “I was delighted to speak at the 2050 Climate Group’s second Youth Summit. What Scotland will look like in 2050 will be shaped by the collective actions of young leaders across the country and it is very encouraging to see so much enthusiasm for a cleaner, greener, fairer Scotland and I believe the contribution of Scotland’s young people to our climate change action has been inspiring to date. Later, of course, we need Scotland’s young people to drive the change we need in the period to 2050 by which time my generation will have passed on the baton to them. With that in mind, it’s very exciting to hear that applications for the second year of the Young Leaders Development Program will be opening in January. I’m very much looking forward to seeing how the programme develops and to working with our young leaders to lead Scotland towards a future we can all be proud of – and no task can be as important as protecting our planet for future generations.”

The event was organised by a working group of young people that joined both 2050 Climate Group Board members and participants of the organisations Young Leaders Development Programme.

The Young Leaders Development Programme is a pioneering training programme that couples leadership and skills development with climate change education to educate, engage and empower the next generation of leaders to lead the low carbon transition. In the pilot year of the programme, which came to an end in November 2016, 150 young people participated in this year-long programme.

The Summit was made possible with support from the Scottish Government, Scottish Power Foundation, 2020 Climate Group, SEPA, ECCi, Scotrail and Lush.